Saturday, May 13, 2006

"The move by Bolivian President Evo Morales, following meetings with Velezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, to assert national control over oil and gas resources is only the latest demonstration of the decline in US power projection." says Engdahl.

.. which started when Castro visited Iran (his 1st visit) , Syria and Libya in May 2001.Agence France-Presse reported that Castro, in an apocalyptic speech at Teheran University on May 10, told his Muslim audience in Iran: "America is weak. I have studied its weaknesses from very close by. I tell you, the imperialist king will finally fall." President Khatami had previously paid an official visit to Havana in September 2000 after the Opec summit in Venezuela.

At the same time a Cuban delegation visiting Moscow to procure additional funding for the Russia's electronic listening station at Lourdes near Havana was dismissed with the announcement that instead the listening post would be closed. Putin announced this at the Shanghai econonomic summit in October to President Bush.(Pic with Syria's Assad)

Later 3 Afghani nationals, allegedly al-Qaeda members were caught trying to deposit US $2 million in a bank in the Cayman Islands in August 2001 were found to have entered the British colony on a commercial flight from Cuba using counterfeit Pakistani passports. British authorities who arrested the three men believe that they were handling drug proceeds laundered in Havana.

Tours through radical Islamic states by Castro and his close Venezuelan ally, President Hugo Chavez, followed in 2001.

Not only were statements by both leaders in their Middle Eastern trips laced with Anti-American rhetoric, but Chavez quite candidly told reporters that his talks with Saddam Hussein and heads of other oil-producing states involved the creation of a "new anti-imperialist axis" against Western industrialized economies.(Pic with Gadaffi -who seems well in with the US currently)

The Engdahl report is essential reading if you wish to untangle Z, Brezinki's "Chess Game" that the US have been playing out on Russia's Souther and Eastern regions and the Middle East.... and the complete and utter fucking disaster it has been.

The silence over the declared Chavezian "new anti-imperialist axis" and the elderly but nonetheless energetic Castro's uncharacteristic interests in meddling in the Middle East seem rarely to surface in the White House rhetoric... perhaps they don't threaten that bit of the Middle East to the East of Haifa.

General Motors overweight, gas-guzzling , celebrity status symbol HI Hummer will be phased out this year.The still massive and thirsty H2 and a midsize H3 sport utility vehicle will continue to frighten , intimidate and pollute.

The H1 attracts the rich, wishing to project a dominant , male oreinted macho "Don't fuck with me" intimidating stance. This season the H1 was offered as a high-performance H1 Alpha that costs about $130,000 to $140,000.

Last year, GM sold 374 H1s, down 16 % from 447 in 2004.

GM announced the first quarterly profits since 2004 and has cut 30,000 jobs and will shut 12 plants by 2008.

AM General, which builds the H1, H2 and Humvee in Mishawaka, Ind.,doesn't plan any job cuts, staff are expected to be shifted to military production as they wear out, get shot or blown up, stolen or lost in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Radio Sawa originated in Washington, it blasts out over parts of the Middle east, where it was installed instead of Voice Of America. A 24/7 Arabic language station that “broadcasts an upbeat mix of Western and Arabic pop music along with up-to-the-minute news, news analysis, interviews, opinion pieces, sports, and features on a wide variety of political and social issues”

Radio Sawa has the sort of political depth of “People” or “Hello” and the accuracy of “The National Enquirer” – it’s Currency Converter does not include Iraqi Dinars for example.

Irony is something most residents pf the Land of the Free think is something you do with a freshly laundered shirt – well this station has with true unintended irony provided the Kurdish Militias with their new marching song. "Gasolina” a pumpy reggaeton mega-hit, which was a chart-topper in many countries.

The Puerto Rican, swarthy , brilliantined super star melds the Spanish street talk “"le gusta la gasolina" which means I Iike to cruise in my car with my baby which makes the song very "pegajosa" . Aparently every cafe, shop, blares this catchy distinctive heavy beat tune endlessly summoning the youth of the Kurdish Crescent to their National goal of Independence.

Of course the Kurdish youth have hi-jacked the meaning, presumably because there are so few Spanish speakers amongst them, but excitedly believe that they will soon be realising the wealth and dreams the Puerto Rican artsiste enjoys in the videos, when Kirkuk and Mosul fall to them and the oil gushes dollars in their treasuries and everyone will own fast red cars and pneumatic Latin beauty’s ride to with them.

This is of course a curious success of an American funded taxpayers radio station which received heavy criticism in 2004 .

In a State Dept Inspector’s report accepted that Radio Sawa, touted by the Bush administration as a success in reaching out to the Arab world, has failed to meet its mandate of promoting democracy and pro-American attitudes, according to a draft report prepared by the State Department's inspector general. But the US$22mn station was so concerned with audience it , had been so preoccupied with building an audience through its music that it failed to adequately measure whether it is influencing minds.

Moreover, it found there was a lack of uniform quality control at Radio Sawa. Some current and former staffers complained that correspondents' reports were uneven, with some reporters quoting "word for word" biased articles that appeared in local newspapers and Middle East news services.

Two independent panels of Arab-language experts hired by the inspector general's office gave the programming a mixed review, saying it did not match al-Jazeera in terms of quality and that parents would prefer that their teenagersdid not listen to Radio Sawa because its broadcasts contained such bad Arabic language.

Today there is a news item about Chavez' visit to Libya to see Gadaffi after his London trip. The same day the US stopped slaes of arms to Venezuela and Contileezza Rice announced full diplomatic relations with Libya. (Pic Radio Sawa website (c) US Government)

At a press conference in London's City Hall on Monday, Chavez called Bush "the biggest perpetrator of genocide the world has known."The BBC quoted Chavez further as calling the U.S. leader "an assassin" and "an immoral man who should be put in jail by an international court."

No doubt the success of supplying the Kurds with a unifying marching song across their diverse streams of independent peshmergas in Spanish must be some sort of record.

You can order the CD from Amazon here , or at a HEFTY discount for Lord Patel’s readers the CD and Video together here.

MP3 download here, Sounds catchy – I have this wonderful dream of the Kurdish irregulars seizing Mosul to the sound of a Puerto Rican pumpy reggaeton mega-hit. Brings to mind the scene of the pumped up GI’s in Fahrenheit 911 entering their troop carrier to the screeching sound of “Die Motherfucker!!!”

Simon Heale CEO of the London Metal Exchange (LME)announced he was stepping down by the year end on Thursday saying he wished to spend more time with his family.

There is major concern at the mayhem in the metal markets which is said to have left a banks and operators on the LME with huge trading losses. The stability of the market has been called into question where Copper soared to an all-time high yesterday of $8,875 a tonne. Yet futures prices for April 2011 are just $3,778 a tonne.Backwardation BIG, BIG style.

The principal cause has been the way banks have been stuck between this rock of price of three-month futures and the rock of that of long-term futures, for December 2010 or April 2011.

Banks provide the finance that finances the LME annual £3,000 Bn.s of trades, they have absorbed long-term hedges from metal producers, which the conventional practice has been to cover by selling short-term futures. Luvvly jubbly in an orderly market.Whilst industrial demand for copper is fairly steady the market price has doubled, a major disjunction which has the potential to be frightening as users , say move from copper plumbing pipes to PVC.

Commentators blame hedge funds who have pushed prices to levels unsupported by market fundamentals.If this gap between the industrial market market reality and the market snaps it would set off a chain of margin calls throughout the whole commodities sector.... whose ripples would spread throughout world stock markets.

John Moore of ABN Amro said "“It would not be scaremongering to expect the spot price to cascade in short order by 40 per cent before buying support re-emerges,” he said. “This poses an immediate risk to pure copper exposed mining shares.”... but he said that on January 3rd

OTHER MARKET FACTORS

The market is still waiting to see what the Chapter 11 action by Refco (now de-listed) in October last year - after it was discovered that British born Phil Bennet CEO of an unregulated subsidiary is accused of hiding the fact that Refco Capital Markets owed $430m to its parent company through a series of undisclosed transactions.He faces up to 20 years in jail for securities fraud.

Warren Buffet told his investors at their AGM on 6th May that noting "something like copper is speculative on both sides of the market--you are looking at market that's responding more to speculative than fundamental forces."

Buffett bought 129.7 million ounces of silver ounces— a fifth of the world’s mine supply — at $6 an ounce in 1998. New York-based CPM Group, a metals consulting firm, had estimated earlier this year that he still held between 100 and 129 million ounces of silver.

Buffet declared that "We had a lot of silver at one time, but we don't have it now."

A Lydford Penny, minted between 978 and 1016 AD, shows the head of Aethelred II, who was the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex in that period. More info here about this beautiful object.

(Pic is not Mr Simon Heale - go to a lap dancing club and forget all about it - that's what most traders do)

The Carbon price plunged again yesterday trading ended Euro 3.7 down at Euro 9.25 as the Market waits for the announcements on Monday on details of EU Emissions. This further dramatic drop of 25% indicates that those who have prior knowledge have let some information out to the market.

Keen observers are keeping an eye on Econergy (ECG) who Numis Securities brought to the AIM Market on February 23rd RNS Number:8093Y. Econergy sell wood chip fired small heating systems , for example a fascinating report is available for an installation at Cirencester Organic Farm Shop The shares which hit the market at 110p dropped 10% when the carbon markets fell off a cliff as sustainability fell out of fashion, yesterday they closed at 98p.

As at 27 January 2006, Econergy had submitted for registration the largest number of projects to the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM") of the Kyoto Protocol of any single company (15 per cent of the world market).

At launch Tom Stoner, CEO said:

"Econergy's flotation is an example of Kyoto working."

"The demand for clean energy worldwide is growing rapidly; our dual income streams - from power revenues and the sale of carbon credits - have proved attractive for investors. We are excited about Econergy's future and are confident that we can deliver on our business plan and create value for our shareholders."

I do seem to remember over 3 years ago the optimists would buy a forest and install a wood burning stove.Perhaps you should add a crate of Whisky and an AK 47.

This was about whistleblower, Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, who tells how a secret room was set up at AT & T where he worked, in San Fransisco and also in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

This setup also included using data-mining equipment called a Narus STA 6400, "known to be used particularly by government intelligence agencies because of its ability to sift through large amounts of data looking for pre - programmed targets."

Well I have discovered a superb site with a huge number if fascinating links which anybody interested in Warrantless wire tapping etc., by NSA should read, not least that the Founder of Narus left and his place was taken by an ex NASA No 2 called William P Crowell....

"Crowell is an independent security consultant and holds several board positions with a variety of technology and technology-based security companies. Since 9/11, Crowell has served on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Task Force on Terrorism and Deterrence, the National Research Council Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism and the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age.

His past positions have included president and chief executive officer of Cylink, a leading provider of e-business security solutions, as well as a series of senior positions at the National Security Agency, including deputy director of operations and deputy director of the Agency. Crowell has served as chairman of the President's Export Council (PEC) Subcommittee on Encryption, which worked with the Administration, Congress and private industry to substantially loosen restrictions on the export of encryption products and technology."

"In an effort to provide more complex network traffic analysis, Narus is introducing (this was in 1999 and things have moved on since then) its semantic network traffic service. The company cites research which predicts the fast-growing ISP sector will become stagnant without the ability to offer differentiated services.

Semantic Traffic Analysis (STA) (Too near STD for comfort I feel)uses network technology to consistently capture and analyze all IP data streams on heavily trafficked networks remotely and non-invasively. In addition, the semantics of the data stream are determined also, as well as the protocol used and the application taking place. A variety of other data is available as well "

Whilst many have never had any doubt that the capacity to monitor every internet package, every voice package, is there, the scale that it was operating on in 1999 9 is awesome.

It monitors 10 billion bits per second at level four and 2500 million bits per second at level seven. For reference, the 256K DSL line I am using equals .25 million bits per second. So one NarusInsight machine can look at about 39,000 DSL lines at once in great detail. (in 1999)

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

Rove testified that he first found out about Plame Wilson from reading a newspaper report in July 2003 and only after the story was published did he share damaging information about her CIA status with other reporters.

However, evidence has surfaced during the course of the two-year-old investigation that shows Rove spoke with at least two reporters about Plame Wilson prior to the publication of the column.

The explanation Rove provided to the grand jury - that he was dealing with more urgent White House matters and therefore forgot - has not convinced Fitzgerald that Rove has been entirely truthful in his testimony.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Nature-it is a fantastic Finnish site - they have a live webcam, refreshed every 15 seconds of an Osprey nest which was started from 9/5/06 - stunning picture quality. You can Zoom by pressing top left button "Lahikuaan". There three other cameras, one underwater as well. Lord Patel has neogotiated free access for his readers, click on the text link above.(NOT the pic)

Of course everything is in Finnish, so unintelligable, but "Arkisto" takes you to a library of recent stills one shown here. It appears the copyright has something to do with EU funding. Looks like Turku University. The Finnish language has no gender which blows my mind - fortunately about 80% of the population can speak very good English -but every Finn I have met has had a humour by-pass. I spent two weeks in Pyongyang with a Finnish UN official......

Do not miss a visit to this site - mindblowing see this pic here of a male Opsrey doing ... er .. what's that man Osprey standing on the lady Osprey for Mummy ? ....er who said this was suitable for children ?

Do not under any circumstances Google "FREE !!! Finnish birds on Live Webcam - with ZOOOOOM !!"

More interesting news from Oz , no, not the welcome news that Prime Minister John Howard will be in Washington next week and will find time in his busy schedule to receive the prestigious B'nai B'rith International Presidential Gold Medal for his "outstanding" support of Israel and the Jewish people at a ceremony in Washington on Tuesday, May 16. (Pic of Andrew Broe, and materials taken from Amundsens Home, Lord Patel's agents took)

A spokesperson for the prime minister said that Howard was "deeply honored" by the award, and that "Australia's consistent support for the State of Israel is based on principle and a profound respect for the courage and achievements of the Jewish people".

No not that ...the main interest is that non terrist bomb maker Amundsen's lawyer Andrew Broe was on ABC TV saying "It's not at all useful for anybody, including him, nor the community, for me to be speculating about the evidence and for this degree of, I think, over interest into these charges.

As I said yesterday, it is not part of the allegations of the Commonwealth Crown or the state police that he's got any affiliation with any terrorist organisation.

These offences, whilst they're under that legislation, it does not follow that even if he was convicted that he's some sort of terrorist."

To which an unidentified journalist reasonably remarked.." How can you say it's over interest when he was found with 53 kilograms of powergel?

ANDREW BOE: "Well, what I'm saying is, whilst you're entitled to have a role in publishing matters going before the courts, there is a greater interest in the community that people charged with most serious offences are entitled a fair trial and are entitled to have the evidence that is admissible against him being led in the court and not being speculated about by either police disclosures to the media or media speculation."

This guy should come over and teach the Met about Press relations and leaking, just as Lord Stevens when he was in the Met, imported Israelis to teach his men how to kill terrorists with a single throat shot... and forgot to tell the Government, Parliament, the Press, the Public about it.

Anyway where was I ?

Ah ! John Amundsen the non-terrorist bomber (with a houseful of explosives and bombs) appeared in a Brisbane court Dressed in a brown tracksuit with his head shaven,evidently relaxed,with a slight smile as his entered the room.

The 40-year-old is facing three new charges under the Commonwealth's anti-terrorism laws of (1)preparing for a terrorist act, (2)making a threat and (3)making a hoax threat (?).

John Amundsen will re - appear in court on May the 26th.

The ABC has also learnt he allegedly sent a threat from an internet cafe.

The Queensland Government is already moving to change the laws, looking at tightening identity checks and requiring sales of explosives to be reported to authorities fortnightly.

Deputy Premier Anna Bligh said to the sound of slamming stable doors, said on ABC, "we need to find something that's workable in an everyday context, but we almost need something that's as tight as it possibly can be."

If it was a UK Minister they would have added de riguer ..."so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again".

MORE GOOD ANTIPODEAN NEWS

Keef is out and about, no wurries. Coconut may not re-cover however. The worrying thing is the report said that he was talking as normal ? Famous for his quip, "Good to be here, good to be anywhere."

"Creative Future has been an extensive cross-media, audience-focussed project involving hundreds of people across the BBC and key external partners."

"The plans build on opportunities created by new and emerging digital technologies and confront the challenges of seismic shifts in public expectations, lifestyle and behaviours and on building new relationships with audiences and individual households."

"In time, we envisage the Creative Desktop to be a fully converged, flexible environment for our production teams to produce content for an on-demand world," continued Varney.....probably forever.

Today is the last trading day before Power producers, steel manufacturers and other smokestack industries have to submit data by Sunday proving that they have not exceeded carbon emission limits established under the first year of the insane, costly hugely over regulated, jobs for the Brussels boys, EU Emissions Trading Scheme, actually a vast financial casino that bets on the value of pieces of paper.

Explanation of spiv for transatlantic readers go here.The EU ETS, developed to meet commitments under the Kyoto Protocol,(and enrich many bankers, banks, finance house, financiers, hedge fund managers, brokers, dealers, and the flotsam of wide boys and spivs in the commodity markets, not to mention many very expensive lawyers and attorneys all listed here) requires EU governments to limit how much CO2 their heaviest polluting industries can emit.

This is the time the folks who "provide their professional and business experience and expertise to global and national dialogues that are developing the key components of the greenhouse gas (GHG) market"... " who ensure that sectorial and geographic points of view are taken into account when new protocols and standards are explored and developed" ... find out just how good their advice was.Because in this casino, some win , some lose.

Companies exceeding their limits face a 40-euro fine per ton of excess CO2 if their carbon books do not balance at the end of the financial year. Everything has not gone smoothly for the scheme: five of the EU’s 25 states — Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta and Poland — still have no registry where companies can access their carbon credits. Companies in those countries will not be able to surrender their allowances for checks by the European Commission, experts say. Poland has only a third of their polluters on their database.

“In the absence of the national registry, you’re never going to be able to surrender anything,” says Peter Zaman, a senior associate at Clifford Chance LLP, ( Head Honchos in the IETA) which advises banks and utilities throughout Europe on carbon-related issues. Zaman said companies in the EU’s other 20 countries could cry foul if their counterparts without national registries were exempted from this stage.

The European Commission has already launched legal proceedings against the countries for not complying with EU laws requiring the registries to be in place, a spokeswoman said.

There are more than 11,500 plants and installations in the EU EMS including oil refineries, steel plants, power stations and cement factories.

Companies will closely watch the publication of the emissions data on May 15, knowing that unexpected news could greatly impact the price of carbon credits, (which has slumped 50% to about Euros12 in a very thinly traded market in the last week) and therefore wholesale power costs.

The market slumped quite simply because the spivs are now out of the market, having taken their dues and are as I write enjoying the clear blue skies of a caribbean beach. The losses have been passed on in higher prices to the consumer of electricity and will continue to do so.

The market expects (hopes, prays on it's collective knees every night) an emissions shortfall — meaning total EU-wide emissions is greater original carbon credit allocations — with companies filling the gap by buying credits. “The market estimates a 80 to 90 million ton shortfall was (is ?) the London Market "conventional) wisdom.

Ruta Bubniene, policy officer at the Brussels-based Climate Action Network Europe, (over 360 members) said the process would prove that some countries had allocated more rights to pollute than necessary. “Over-allocation will become very visible after the surrender of the allowances,” she said. Their report said ..."There was a significant lack of transparencyin most Member States processes to determine their National Allocation PLans (NAPs). This has resulted in questions on the validity and legitimacy of the crafting and data within the NAPs." (see Table 1 Page 6) PDF Alert

Generally firms involved will be unconcerned about fines because they can borrow allowances already in their accounts for 2006 to cover shortfalls in 2005, (according to Clifford Chance’s Zaman.) But this is a one trick pony and cannot be repeated, the critical compliance deadline from the perspective of an operator is the 30th of April 2008 ... and a lot of smoke will come out of a lot of stacks by then... and mergers / take overs to confuse be sorted out in the accounting for carbon.

Is it a coincidence that la Beckett whose funding for farmers is a shambles, and a huge enthusiast for this type of gambling, has just moved on to sort out the FO ?

.... Which is highly topical becuse it concerns the criminal historyMuktar Saed Ibrahim, also known as Muktar Mohammed Saed, 27, who was named by police in connection with the attempted attack on the No 26 bus in Hackney, East London, on 21/7/2005....one of the Qat dealing "Flour Power" bombers whose case is eagerly awaited later this year.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

I haven't had the time or chance to read the reports about 7/7 yet today. There is obviously heavy traffic or the Home Office Webmaster is as good as the pricks who run the Immigration system.

I have watched the endless loops and interviews on TV and heard the news - I must say I don't know what JohnRreid is on but U want some. Remember that really nasty ratty scots bastard ? He is on double cold turkey Fags and Booze as well - silky as a car salesman.

They are all mad rattling the collection tin for the dwellers in the Purple Palace by Vauxhall Bridge.

3. Efraim Halevi was at school with Tony Blairs Baronetcy salesman and all round fund raiser and bar Mitvah party organiser, Lord Levy of the Stacked shoes.Halevi has retired from running Mossad, and he gets an article in the Jerusalem Post that day.

4. Jerusalem is 2 hours ahead of London. This is how it starts ,go here for the rest of the article There was careful planning, intelligence gathering, and a sophisticated choice of timing as well as near-perfect execution. We are faced with a deadly and determined adversary who will stop at nothing and will persevere as long as he exists as a fighting terrorist force.

5. Now if you follow the link you will find it is at The Information Clearing HOuse.

6. Go to the Jerusalem Post, it says the article is here ... you click on the link and all you see is ..."This article is missing" Well, well, well.

So how the fuck did Mr Halevi in Jerusalem write ...""There was careful planning, intelligence gathering, and a sophisticated choice of timing as well as near-perfect execution." blah blah

He must have the same crystal balls as EX Premier Netanyahu who was in London that day who didn't leave his hotel on instructions from another crystal ball gazer who said bombs were going to go off. WEll, well, well

Oh by the way Halevi also wrote ..."One historical irony: I doubt whether the planners knew that one of the target areas, that in Russell Square, was within a stone's throw of a building that served as the first headquarters of the World Zionist Organization that preceded the State of Israel. " now why would he mention that ? 52 people die in smoky tunnels under London and the first thing that comes to his head is the founding fathers of Zionism.

1. Lord Patel of Blackburn—Adam Hafejee Patel Esquire, having been created Baron Patel of Blackburn, of Langho in the County of Lancashire, for life by Letters Patent dated 14th February 2000, was introduced between the Lord Taylor of Blackburn and the Baroness Castle of Blackburn, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and Garter King of Arms preceding; and took and subscribed the oath pursuant to statute.

Just to set people's mind at rest ...this is not I, I am Lord Patel of the Internet.But my noble Lords did note a papar "set before them" ..

2. Diego Garcia—Exchange of Notes between the United Kingdom and the United States of America concerning the construction of a Monitoring Facility on Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory (British Indian Ocean Territory Agreement 1999).

So on that day the UK / US Governments were up to their normal tricks of arranging affairs on far away places.Despite what Magna Carta says .. "No man shall be ... exiled … but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land" not forgetting The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states in Article 13(2) that "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own and to return to his country". The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 states in Article 12(4) that "No-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country", a Covenant ratified by the UK in 1976.

Diego Garcia is the largest of the Chagos Islands and had been effectively exchanged (what we lawyers call "sold") to the US for an Air Base by Labour Peer Lord Chalfont and Lord Callaghan who was a bit behind on the HP for the "Chevalining" or secret upgrading of the Polaris Missiles - which he forgot to tell his Party members about at the time. The islanders were shipped off to Mauritius, mony that went to the Mauritius Government as a sort of blood money never saw them and so they were consigned to poverty. Overall there are 2000 of them and 200 live in the UK after a change in the law by Jack Straw over their status.

The US turned them into a massive air base so they could readily bomb the living shit out of Iraq and anywhere it took and takes their fancy. Lady Amos always equivocated whenevr asked if the Americans had one of their Ghost Prisons there, as did Jack Straw so that is a fair indication that they do.

Naturally the Chagos Islanders (The Ilois - The Islanders) were a bit shirty and through a great deal of effort over many years managed to get the House of Lords to agree that the Islands should be returned to them.Which the High Court agreed with in a famouse decision in November 200.

Justice Ousely in October 2003 then ruled against them (in a very questionable judgement much prized by the guys in pin stripes of a judicial cock-up) so they appealed and won in the House of Lords in 2004.

The Queens Dirty Tricks department came in under the heady presence of Lady Amos, (see pic)one of Blair's ennobled unelected chicks who was also Leader of Her Majesty's Privy Council and produced an Order in Council - a Mediaeval instrument that says effectively I am the Monarch, this is what I am doing and no one can stop me.On 10 June last year , election day for local authorities and the European Parliament, Bill Rammell, then a junior Foreign Office minister, slipped a written statement in to the Commons announcing that the Queen had approved an "order in council" banning the Chagos islanders from ever going home.

On 7 October, however, the High Court agreed to a judicial review of Rammell's royal decree at the request of Richard Gifford of Sheridans their lawyer.... who one must say has been a tower of strength throughout this to the Ilois. Well Done Dick.

Well today her Maj got stopped in her tracks.

In the High Court the Order in Council was overturned.

Sir Sydney Kentridge QC had described the treatment of the Chagossians as "outrageous, unlawful and a breach of accepted moral standards".

He said there was no known precedent "for the lawful use of prerogative powers to remove or exclude an entire population of British subjects from their homes and place of birth".

But John Howell QC, appearing for the Foreign Office, argued the government acted within its powers, and did not accept that any residents of the territory were unlawfully removed or excluded in the period 1965-1973.

The local Ilois people, he said, who left the islands and re-settled in Mauritius, received compensation that eminent English lawyers described as fair.

Essentially this now means that Lady Amos's order in Council is null. It is void.They are free to return

BUT

The US says it opposes any return on security grounds. See Postscriptum.

Recently, Jack Straw - then Foreign Secretary - said that a return was not "practical".

Naturally the government was given permission to appeal, which they will. Tony Balir. although a lawyer , hates the independence of the Judiciary so like Hitler he, with his fat flatmate Lord Falconer of the enormous wattles and Fat belly are stitching up the selection of the Judges etc, etc,You can be sure that there is no way TB is going until he has that sorted out, he doesn't like confusing the Law with Justice.

MEANWHILE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

The Chagossians had sued the US and US officials including Mr McNamara ..

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.BROWN, Circuit Judge: In this case, we confront seriousallegations involving events occurring forty years ago on the farside of the world. Appellants claim the United States governmentforcibly removed them from their homes on islands in theIndian Ocean in order to construct a military base. The districtcourt dismissed all of Appellants’ claims against the UnitedStates and the individual defendants. We affirm the districtcourt’s decision, finding that Appellants’ claims presentnonjusticiable political questions.

This is well worth reading as a VERY useful history of the way the Churchillian "Special relationship" that he invoked at the time of his Iron Curtain speech at Fenton.

During the debate on the 2005 Supplemental Appropriations bill for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan and disaster relief assistance for victims of the December 2004 tsunami, Senator Byrd (D-WV) (who famously said "Congress is not an ATM")introduced the above titled amendment which would have deleted a provision in the underlying spending bill which provided $36 million for the construction of a new maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"What struck me about this item (the new Guantanamo facility) is that the American people are being asked to build a permanent prison to house 220 prisoners from the war on terrorism when the courts have not yet determined the legal status of the detainees or whether the United States can continue to hold these individuals indefinitely without charging them with a crime (still undecided - the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on whether inmates there can face military trials.) ...If ever there was a case of putting the cart before the horse, this seems to be it."

Senator Hutchison (R-TX) said "I think Guantanamo Bay is the perfect place to hold these types of detainees, many of whom are dangerous terrorists. I do not want these prisoners moved. I don't want them moved into facilities in communities in our country, on our shores, where they can pose a danger for our citizens and serve as a lightning rod for terrorist activity." On a vote of 27-71, the Byrd amendment was defeated

"Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many, right or wrong, of injustice. The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty, and of justice, deserves the removal of this symbol (of injustice)."

"There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise. Fair trial is one of those, which is the reason we in the United Kingdom were unable to accept that the United States military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of fair trial in accordance with international standards."

"It is time, in my view, that it should close," Lord Goldsmith the Attorney General Privy Counsellor (2002) London's Royal United Services Institute 10/5/006 (Full text of speech here)

I have said this before, I think it is an anomaly and you cannot maintain it forever. It is obviously a difficult situation. I think most people recognise at some point this has got to be brought to an end.—Tony Blair, PM, 22nd November 2005

"America's idea of what is torture, is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations". Mr. Justice Collins, High Court Judge Feb 16th 2006

I would prefer that it wasn’t there. I would prefer it was closed, yes. —Peter Hain, Northern Ireland secretary, 16th February 2006 BBC Question Time

"I have said all the way along that it's an anomaly and sooner or later has to be dealt with."Tony Blair meeting Angela Merkell 17th February 2006

"This is not an anomaly which needs to be sorted sooner or later. This is an outrage that needs to be sorted out now," Sir Menzies Campbell same day.

"I never imagined I would live to see the day when the United States and its satellites would use precisely the same arguments that the apartheid government used for detention without trial. It is disgraceful," Archbishop Desmond Tutu BBC's Today programme.Feb 20th2006

I am absolutely clear that the US has no intention of maintaining a Gulag in Guantánamo Bay. They want to see the situation resolved and they would like it other than it is. However, that is the situation that they have. —Jack Straw, foreign secretary, 21st February 2006

I very much would like to end Guantánamo; I very much would like to get people to a court. —George Bush, U.S. President, 7th May 2006

Guantanamo Prison (which was Marconi's first commercial Transatlantic Wireless Radio station) is still there ... and looks like being there for many, many years.

John Howard Amundsen, 40, the Brisbane teacher at whose home the Police found 53 Kilos of Powergel explosive with some fashioned into prinitve nail / razor bombs has been charged with fraud and refused bail.

It is alleged he obtained the explosives by using false identification.

Apparently he lives alone with his mother and had been acting strangely, pacing about with rubber gloves on in the street, carrying barrels into his house... and "marching up and down".